Praise the tall but saddle the small. My assignment is to train mustangs. Spanish, Sulphur and BLM...to train to lead, train to ride and train to display and engage in whatever form will please them and the public. There are tours scheduled each day. The visitors of the sanctuary range from drive-by occassions to intentional mustang afficionados. The latter is rare. The target group is in line with the other local attractions: Rushmore, Bison, Petroglyphs, Badlands Deadwood, Hot Springs, multiple use. People have limited time, interest, patience and funds. A 3 hour $75 tour is not in everybody's budget. The initial arrival will yield the view of the beautiful valley circled by the Cheyenne River, sometimes the discriminating eye can distinguish a horse on the ridge behind the hilltop...one of the wild ones. The horses at the fence line are first and second generation x-breeds between mustang mares and paint and quarter horse stallions. To my knowledge there has not been an intentional introduction of a feral Stallion to the mares. The only stallion with bunch is the sulphur stud Don Juan, who lives in the southern section of the fields. There are 20 BLM mares amongst the horses at the fence line and only one mare PRAIRIE LARK (trained and ridden by Dayton Hyde) - she is about 26 years old is the last living one from the initial rescue in 1988 which prompted Dayton Hyde to rescue the mares in the Nevada Feedlot and start the sanctuary.Then there is the mares and foal corral. (Birth control has been successful and fewer and fewer babies are born) These horses are all for sale...the little girl tries to attract the horses to the front, but they keep their distance...Living wild has taught them well...then there is the chicken coup and on the other side, the paddock of the CURLY horses, we are still learning about them...they have curly mane tail and coat and are hypo-allergenic.good for people with asthma and other respiratory problems...These have come from the mustangs but they also have their origins in the mongolian continent...If you are lucky, you are early and the bus will leave in an hour. That gives you time to see the approaching rider on the beautiful golden dun, called Aragon. That is me, coming to greet the visitors and entice them to ask their driver to stop by the training barn after their tour to watch me train and demonstrate some of the characteristics of the mustangs...Aragon is a wonderful ambassador of the spanish mustang and deserves all the cookies in all our pockets....see you at the barn.
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